Advertising device



Aug 12 1924. v C. W. HALES ADVERTISING nnvxca" File d March 1920 2Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 12 1924. f 7 1504552 I C. HALES ADVERTISING DEVICEFiled March 5, 1920- 2 Sheets- Sheet '2 Patented Aug. 12, 1924.

tiNZTE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES W. HALES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TD GULBRANSENDICKINSONCOMPANY, OF CHIGILGO, ILLINOIS, A. COREOBATION OF ILLINOIS.'

ADVERTISING DEVICE.

Application filed March a, 1920.

T aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES IV. HALES,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county ofCook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Advertising Devices, of which the following is a full,clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to advertising devices and has for its primaryaim to provide means for bringing individually to the attenton of theobserver some vitally imoi tant feature of the article on display orbeing advertised, and is designed also as an improvement over Patent No.1,288,759, granted to T. B. Thompson, December 2 1, 1918.

Another object of my invention is to provide means for advertisingplayer pianos, particularly to emphasize the ease and facility withwhich the piano may be played by employing, in connection with the pedal25 mechanism thereof, means representing the application of therelatively light force to the pedal.

Another object of my invention is to provide, in conjunction with theabove, means for continuously operating the piano, and the pedalmechanism thereof, so as to convey to the observer the idea that thesame is being operated by the application of a light force, such aswould be applied by a child.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for continuouslyoperating the piano, reversing the music roll and operating the pedalmechanism in the exposed or projected position. I preferably employ afigure representing that of a childwith one hand on the pedal, and Iprovide means for connecting that hand to the pedal.

A still further object of my invention is to provide an improvedmounting for-the prime mover, in this case an electric motor,

which is mounted inside the piano case.

While I shall describe a particular form of my invention and refer tothe same as an advertising or display device, I do not limit myself tothe application of the invention as set forth, as the scope ofadaptability of the device is not limited to that shown.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear from thefollowing de- Serial No. 363,033.

tail description and the claims, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which: 1

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a piano showing my invention appliedthereto, portions of'the piano being broken away;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the same;

Figure 3 is an enlarged front elevation of the transmission shiftingdevice;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the same;

Figure 5 is a detail view of the pedal connection; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged side elevation of the motor mounting.

Referring in detail to the embodiment of my invention as disclosed, 10designates a piano casing which houses the piano action and playermechanism. In the form of the invention shown, a piano of the uprighttype has been disclosed, but it will be readily appreciated as thisdescription proceeds that the invention is not limited in application tothis style of piano. The casing 10 is composed of the sounding board orback wall 11, baseboard 12 and end walls 13 and 14. The. keyboard 15extends outwardly from the piano casing, as in the conventional form ofupright piano and is supported by columns 16 and 17, at either end ofthe piano. The usual frame 18 is mounted on the sounding board 11 andcarries the strings 19.

A roll box 20 is shown, in which the rollers 21 and 22 are adapted to bemounted, carrying the music web 23 which passes over "the tracker bar24. The tracker bar is provided with the usual openings 24:communicating with the pneumatics, not shown, and is also provided withan additional opening 25, for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.The music web 23. is provided with a series of perforations in theconventional manner and is also provided with a series of perforations25 at or near each end of the music web, which openings 25 are adaptedto register with the additional openings 25 in the tracker bar for apurpose which will appear hereinafter. The roll box has not been shownin its proper position for obvious reasons.

The usual feeder bellows 26 and 27 are suspended from the block 28within the piano casing and below the keyboard 15,

the same communicating with reservoirs 29 and 30. The pedal structuremay comprise a frame 31 mounted on arms 32 pivoted at 33 within thepiano casing and carrying a pair of pedals 34 and 35 pivoted at theirouter-ends on said frame 31 and capable of vertical movement thereon.The frame is adapted to be folded into the piano casing when not in use.The pedals 34 and 35 are connected to the lowerends of the movableleaves of the feeder bellows 26 and 27in any suitable manner.

My invention consists essentially inm'eans for oscillating one or bothof the pedals, in applying a ,figure,'such as the representationofachild with one hand 'on one of the pedals, and 'automaticmeans forrewinding the music roll at either end of its travel so that the pianowill continuously play and the idea will be conveyed to the observerthat the child is operating the piano.

The figure or representation of a child is designated 36, the childbeing represented as on its knees with the left hand 37 beneath thepedal frame and the right hand 38 resting upon the pedal 35 at the upperend thereof. The hand 38 is connected to the pedal in a manner whichwill be described later, and is pivoted to the body of the figure at 36.v

' I provide means for driving the pedal 35, this meansconsisting of anelectric, motor 39 mounted on a base 40 in a manner which will bedescribed in detail later. The motor is coi'mected by a belt 41 to apulley 42 carried on a shaft 43 mounted in a housing 44. The housingcontains a worm mounted on said shaft 43, which wormv engages with asuitable worm gear carried by a shaft 45, the worm and worm gear notbeing shown, as the same do not necessarily enter into the invention.One free end of the shaft 45 car-- ries a crank 46 which is engaged witha link 47. whichlink is in turn connected. at 48 to a clamp 49 whichengages the upper end of the pedal35. The clamp is made in two partsconnected togetherby a bolt 50. One of the parts of the clamp 49 isprovided with an apertured lug 51 through which a bolt '52 is engaged,said bolt being carried by the handy38 of the figure 36. This struc tureis best shown in Figure 5. It will be apparent that when the electricmotor 39 is energized the pedal 35 will be oscillated vertically, andits motion. will be transmit- :tedto the feeder bellows 2", which inturn will operate the player mechanism of the piano.

it will be readily seen that while the pedal is oscillating verticallythe childs hand will rise and fall with the pedal and thus convey theimpression that the child is playing the piano At 54 'Ihave shown theshifting lever which usually projects in front of the keyboard formanual shifting and reversing of the roll transmission (not shown). Inthe present application of my improved automatic shift I make noalterations in the conventional form of shifting mechanism, but merelyconnect a rod 55 to the lever 56 carried by the inner end of the shafton which said lever 54 is mounted. The rod 55 is coupled by means of anadjustable clamp 57 to a second rod 58, which is in turn connected tothe automatic shifting mechanism of my invention, best shown in Figures3 and 4.

The automatic shifting n'icchanism hereinbefore mentioned, preferablyconsists of a block or support 59 made up of laminations of wood or thelike in accordance with the general practice in constructing the partsof pianos and provided with a head portion 60 through which a pair ofscrews 61 pass and engage in the piano casing beneath the keyboard. Theupper end of the block 59 and the head member 60 abut one of thestringers 62 of the piano structure.

Mounted on the front face of the block 59 is a wooden disk 63 arrangedfor rotation on a screw 64 engaging in the block 59. It suitable :asher65 may be interposed. between the rear face of the disk 63 and the frontface of the bloclr 59 for an obvious purpose. Guiding blocks 66 and 67are mounted on the front face of the blocl: i9

and are provided with registering slots 68 and 69. A flat bar 70 ismounted in the slots 68 and 69 and adapted for reciprocating movementtherein, said bar having the upper end thereof enlarged and providedwitha notch 71 adapted to engage successively with one of the four pins72, 7o. 74, and 75, carried by the disc '3. The free curl of the rod 58is formed with an eye 76 which engages over a crank screw 77 carried bythe disc 63, a nut 78 on said screw maintairn ing the eye of the rod inabutment with the head of the screw. .he flat bar 70 is pro-- ventedfrom dislodgment from the slot 69, and yet permitted slight oscillationthere-- in by means of a pair of pins 79 which pass through said slot oneither side of said bar. The bar 70 is fulcrumed as at 80, to a rod 81,which in turn is connected at to the movable leaf 83 of a pneumatic Thepneumatic 84 is provided with the usual valve block 85 in which iscontained the valve mechanism, the valve chamber communicating by ieansof a tube 86 with the feeder bellows reservoirs and with the opening 25in the tracker bar 24 referred to 'hereinbefore.

The rod 81 is continued beyond the connection of the same to the movableleaf S3 and carries a weight 87 for insuring positive operation of theshafting mechanism.

The enlarged upper end of thebar 70 is provided with an inclined edge88, which is adapted to ride upon the adjacent pin in the disc 63, inthis case the pin 72, when said bar is elevated. The lower end of thebar 70 is provided with an extension 89 to which a flat bar 90 isriveted, as at 91. The

free end of the flat bar 90 carries a weight 92. This weight actingthrough the bar 90, and fulcrum 80, tends to maintain the bar 70 incontact with the pins in the disc 63 as the same is rotated.

A resilient rod 93 is carried by the blocks 66 and 67 ,the lower freeend of the rod 93 being embedded in the block 67 and the upper end ofthe rod engaging the peripheral surface of the disc 63. The rod passesthrough a. suitable slot 94 in the block 66, a pin 95 in the block 59serving to maintain the rod 93 under tension in engagement with theperipheral surface of the disk 63. This rod serves to prevent reverserotation of the disk and also serves to dampen the rotation of the same.I

The pneumatic 84 depends for its operation upon the vacuum systemfamiliar to those in the art and employed in most player pianos foroperating the player mechanism pneumatics which strike the notes and adetail description of the same is therefore not thought to be necessary.

The operation of the roll reversing mechanism ust described is asfollows: Assuming,

for convenience in describing, that the parts as shown in Figures 1, 3and 4 are in the position during the playing of the roll. As soon as theroll has been played the series of openings 25 at the end thereof, whichcorrespond to the openings at the beginning of the web, register withthe opening 25 in the tracker board. This causes a collapse of thepneumatic 84 which imparts vertical movement to the rod 81 and bar 70,which in turn causes the upper enlarged end of the latter to ride overthe pin 72 until the notch 71 engages said pin. As soon as the openingsin the music web pass the opening 25 in the tracker bar and the same isclosed the suction on the penumatic 84 is released and the lower leafthereof drops, together with the rod 81. under the action of the weight87 and also under the action of the weight 92. This gravitation of therod 81 is imparted to the bar 70, which in turn rotates the disk 63through approximately 90 degrees, which reciprocates the rod 58andthrows the transmission into reverse for rewinding. The aboveconsumes two; motions of the bar 70,

7 one up and one down. Now, as the roll is rewound the perforations inthe web will again for an instant register with the opening in thetracker bar, which will cause an other reciprocation of the bar and apar tial rotation of the disk 63, but this rotation is so slight thatthe motion imparted to the rod 58 is not suflicient to disengage thegears of the transmission. ,After the roll is rewound the series ofperforations in the music web at the beginning of the roll againregister with the opening in the tracker bar which causes a collapse ofthe pneumatic 84. As soon as the series of perforations passes theopening in the tracker bar the pneumatic is released and the rod 81 andbar 70 again gravitate to rotate the disk 68 through an angle ofsubstantially 90 degrees, suf icient to cause the transmission to shiftfrom rewinding 'to playing engagement. When the roll starts to play theseries of perforations will again register with the opening in thetracker bar and another reciprocation of the bar 70 will be had, but themovement imparted by the bar to the disk 63 is not sufli cient todisengage the gears of the transmission. Thus it will be seen that forone playing of the music roll four distinct movements of the bar 70 areproduced, two of these motions being live and the other two dead. Idesire to lay particular stress upon the step by step movement employedin shifting the transmission, as after considerable experiment this hasbeen found to be a very positive and sure method of shifting the gearsof the transmission. The extreme simplicity of the shifting mechanismdoes way with ratchets or pawls or the like by using two livei and twodead movements of the shifting bar.

Referring now to Figure 6, wherein an 11nproved mounting for theelectric motor is best'shown, I provide a base hereinbefore designated40, the base 40 being placed within the piano casing as shown in Figure2 and having an abutment 41 on the end thereof toward the object beingdriven by the motor. The mounting of'the motor consists of two frames ormore if necessary, which are identical in construction and shape and oneonly will therefore be described. The frame is designated 97 andpreferably comprises a flat bar having the central portion thereofformed to provide a raised portion 98 to which the motor base 99 issecured by bolts 100. In the present instance two frames have beenprovided.

The frame 97 is provided with feet portions 101 and 102, the footportion 101 having an upturned end 103 and being adapted to receive aclamping bar 104 which extends entirely across the base 40, screws 105engaging through said clamp 104 into the base 40 to secure the clamp; Arubber packing 106 is interposed between the clamp 104, abutment 41 andbase 40, and said foot member 101, so that there is no actual metalcontact between the motor and the support- .ing base. The foot portions102 of the frame members rest upon rubber pads 107. Thus it will be seenthat the motor is securely mounted on the base, the free ends of theframe members being left free in order to ject connected to one of saidfoot controlled pedals.

14. In combination, a device having a tracker bar over Which sheet musicis adapted to track, means for reversing the direction of travel of thesheet music, a pneumatic element mechanically connected With said means,and an object positioned adjacent the device for indicating the mannerof operating the same, said object being connected to and operated bysaid device,

15. In combination, a tracker bar having an opening therein adapted toregister With perforations in a music sheet, a transmisslon mechanismgoverning the direction of travel of the music sheet over the trackerbar, a reciprocating member connected With said transmission mechanism,a device having progressive movement at the other end of thereciprocating member for imparting movement thereto, means actuated inaccordance ith the registering of said tracker bar opening with saidsheet perforations for actuating said device, and a representation of aninstructor for indicating the ease and mode of operating the device,said representation being connected to and operated by the device. 7

In Witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 27 day of Feb,1920.

CHA S. W. HALES.

Certificate of Correction.

It is hereby certified that the assignee in Letters Patent No.1,504,552, granted August 12,1924, upon the application of CharlesHales, of Chicago, Illinois, foran improvement in Advertising Devices,was erroneously described and specified as Gulbransen-Dickinson Company,of Chicago, Illinois, a corporation of Illinois, Whereas said assigneeshould have been described and specified as Gu-Zbmnsen Company, ofChicago, Illinois, a corporation of Illinois, as shown by the records ofassignments in this office; and that the said Letters Patent should beread With this correction therein that the same may conform to therecord of the case in the Patent Ofiice.

Signed and sealed this 28th day of October, A. D. 192%.

[sEAn] KARL FENNING,

Acting Commissioner of Patents.

